Sponsor
Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Representative · D-FL
Representative · D-FL
Official title: To impose sanctions on foreign persons the President determines to have knowingly engaged in, facilitated, or benefitted from severe forms of trafficking in persons in connection with the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking enterprise or in connection with efforts to conceal, facilitate, finance, or profit from such enterprise.
Introduced March 5, 2026 by Debbie Wasserman Schultz · Last progress March 5, 2026
The bill strengthens congressional oversight, victim protections, and sanctions against foreign participants in Epstein-related trafficking, but does so by expanding definitions and enforcement tools that raise administrative costs, privacy and reputational risks, diplomatic friction, and potential legal exposure for U.S. persons while giving the Executive waiver flexibility.
Congress (committee members and staff) will receive faster, regular reporting and classified/unclassified briefings on Epstein-related foreign participants, improving oversight and accountability of executive actions.
Children and other trafficking victims will have strengthened protections because the bill targets foreign individuals who knowingly facilitated trafficking and requires victim-protective reporting practices.
Foreign persons credibly linked to Epstein-related trafficking will face asset blocks, transaction restrictions, and visa/entry bans, reducing their access to U.S. financial systems and territory.
Individuals, entities, and federal agencies will face broader privacy, liability, and reputational risks because expanded definitions (e.g., "should have known" and an expansive "United States person") and reliance on "credible information" can trigger disclosures or sanctions based on non-judicial sources.
Taxpayers and federal employees will absorb increased administrative, document-production, reporting, and enforcement costs as agencies must assemble large record productions, prepare regular reports, and respond to committee briefings and sanctions enforcement.
U.S. foreign policy and diplomatic relations could be strained because public naming and sanctions of foreign individuals may harm ties with allied governments or complicate cooperation.
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Requires identification of foreign persons tied to Epstein‑related trafficking and mandates asset‑blocking and visa bans, with reporting, waiver, and termination rules.
Requires the President, with input from State, Treasury, and Justice, to identify foreign persons credibly connected to Jeffrey Epstein’s sex‑trafficking enterprise and report those names to specific congressional committees within 90 days and annually for five years. For each person named, the President must impose mandatory sanctions — U.S. asset‑blocking under IEEPA and visa/entry bans — subject to limited waiver and termination procedures, reporting, and victim‑privacy protections. Establishes definitions and procedures for how credible information is collected (including certain government records and other sources), allows a classified annex to reports, creates criminal and civil penalties for violations of sanctions, and preserves existing Attorney General obligations under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.